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Voices: Ferguson voter turnout disheartening

In the early days of the protests in Ferguson last August, voting rights advocates set up shop in the middle of the burned down gas station that was at the epicenter of unrest following the shooting death of

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Voices: Ferguson voter turnout disheartening

During protests in August following the shooting death of Michael Brown, activists sought to register voters. Ferguson held its first municipal election since Brown's shooting on April 7, 2015.(Photo: Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY)

In the early days of the protests in Ferguson, Mo., last August, voting rights advocates set up shop in the middle of the burned-down gas station that was at the epicenter of unrest following the shooting death of the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer.

On their fold-up card table, they posted a simple sign in red marker inviting the protesters to take this opportunity to make real change by registering to vote. "Your vote is your voice," the sign beckoned.

I snapped a photo with my iPhone of a woman manning the table, which I shared with family and friends. She was a glimmer of hope at the start of several difficult months for Ferguson.

I got caught up talking to protesters that day and never had a chance to catch up with that lady. But as the months of protests unfolded, I occasionally looked at her photo.

It became clear as the months of unrest unfolded that the work she was doing represented the path to addressing the core issues that were festering in Ferguson—endemic racial tension in the city that was perpetuated in part because the city's African-American majority was woefully underrepresented at City Hall and at the police department.

This week, Ferguson took a big step forward. With the city's first municipal election since Brown's death, the city tripled the number of black members of its city council. For the first time in Ferguson history, half of the council members will be black.

About 30% of voters cast ballots, more than double the participation in the last two elections in Ferguson. Many of the voters who showed up on Tuesday braved rain to cast their ballots in what activists have hailed as a historic election.

But a closer consideration of the numbers should leave us depressed about the seeming lack of interest of our fellow Americans in participatory democracy.

In the Ward 3 race, which includes the area Brown was from and where many business were destroyed and looted in the unrest, only 19% of voters cast ballots. To be certain, participation was up dramatically in Brown's home ward. In 2012, the last time there was a contested election in the ward, only 6 % – just 168 voters – bothered to cast ballots.

But after what Ferguson went through over the last eight months, an election in which less than a third participated seems like a hollow victory for democracy.

To be fair, my own city, Chicago, is hardly a stirring example.

In the Windy City, which on Tuesday held the city's first-ever mayoral runoff, less than 40% of voters bothered to cast ballots. The depressing turnout comes as the city is grappling with $20 billion in unmet pension obligations and persistent violence.

In Ferguson, a coalition of protesters, a liberal political group and a labor union poured into the city in the final weeks to help get out the vote.

Only one out of their three preferred candidates won. But the coalition – which included activists from the Organization for Black Struggle, the Working Families Party and the Service Employees International Union Missouri/Kansas state council – said the effort was worthwhile, because it demonstrated that voting could help make the kind of change they want to see.

A couple of weeks before Ferguson's election, unsuccessful Ward 1 candidate Doyle McClellan told me that when he knocked on doors, he would tell anyone who would listen that each person in his community could become a powerful voice by simply voting in three consecutive elections.

"You vote in a municipal, a congressional and another municipal race, and the politicians will notice, and they will come looking for your vote and want to hear what you have to say," he said.

McClellan makes a good point. Consistent voters are like gold, particularly in non-presidential years.